The Thief's Daughter of District Twelve
by Nrrrd-Grrrl-Meg
Summary: This is the untold tale of the First Quarter Quell. How exactly does one react to being picked by their neighbor's to die in the 25th Hunger Games? Well, you are about to find out. Follow the story of Piper Bloomsquist, daughter of the town thief, as she tries to make it back to her father.
1. Three Minutes

**The Thief's Daughter of District Twelve: The Untold Story of the First Quarter Quell**

A/N: I figured if I was going to toss my hat into the Hunger Games fanfiction game, I might as well do a story that wasn't told during the trilogy. Hence why I wanted to try my had at telling the story of the First Quarter Quell, especially since I believe that voting in your own children is the most barbaric thing I could think of. Way to go, Capitol! Of course, I own nothing but my own characters. If you haven't heard of them, they are mine, simple as that. As always, please read and review. Good or bad, I'd love to know how I am fairing.

I am planning on putting these in the points of view of three different characters, all of my creation. Also, I had to create some new officials, as this takes place nearly fifty years before Katniss and Peeta's win. So, that's that. On with it.

**Chapter One – Three Minutes**

Just three minutes before The Reaping, I thought I had just about a good a chance as any girl in District 12 at being set free for another year. Well, as good a chance as any girl from THE SEAM, where tessera was the norm and we all had our names in the bowl multiple times just so our family might not starve to death. But this year, I could tell things were going to be different. The weeks leading up to games were strikingly different from any other year, from the meetings the adults were forced to go to, to the way people were acting, coupled with the fact that there have been a lot more Peacekeepers around than usual. I should have KNOWN something was wrong, as more adults than usual had a sad look in their eye when they saw me coming their way…I had just figured that my father had been caught doing something stupid again. Last time they had that look in their eyes was the day he had been caught breaking into a house in the Victor's Village again, looking for anything that wasn't nailed down that he could sell at The Hob. To be fair, I had just survived my first Reaping and he had no alcohol to drown his sorrows in. After all, my father lost his twin brother Colin in the first ever Hunger Games and he tended to get a little harder to handle than usual around this time of year. I would guess watching your twin being bludgeoned to death by what would later become a Career tribute would cause me to lose my grip on reality this time of year.

Speaking of which…where WAS my father?

There isn't a time in my life when I can't picture my father being too far from my side, with school being the only exception. My mother died in childbirth, which wasn't completely uncommon with women from The Seam, and he was left with the burden of caring for a little girl that was nothing more than a constant reminder of the woman he lost. He called her his 'Diamond of The Seam' and she was his reason for getting out of bed every morning to work in the dank, dark mines for twelve hours a day. My mother was something special for him to come home to. After she died, he quit the Mines, opting instead to perform menial tasks and hunt illegally to put food on the table. And, when all else fails, he would steal anything he could to give us the life he thought I deserved. With my mother gone, there was no one left to really keep him in line and he found himself turning to the drink just to keep himself on the straight and narrow. Or, what he thinks passes for the straight and narrow.

After coming to grips with the fact that my drunken thief of a father wasn't going to bother to show up and might not even KNOW I was Reaped, as he didn't show up to said Reaping, I tried my hands at escaping. With Peacekeepers all the way from the Capitol itself, going out the front wasn't an option. Mumbling ever obscenity I knew, I tried to pry out the nails that held the windows shut before came to the heart wrenching realization that the worn-in claw and teeth marks surrounding those nails were there for a reason. There were even a few nails that looked newly added just for today. I couldn't help but laugh to myself, as it would have seemed that they KNEW someone like me was being picked this year. And then I realized….they did know.

My name is Piper Bloomsquist and I was hand-picked by my District to join the first ever Quarter Quell. The very people that I saw on a daily basis, trade with, learned things from, smiled at as I crossed the road…they were the ones that signed my death warrant. Why? Because the Capitol figured that after twenty-four years of plain, uninteresting Games were children's names are picked out of a big bowl and then ordered to slaughter each other until one remained, that they really needed to remind us of how the Dark Days really ended and how their grip on us was never-ending. Instead of our fate being left to a high calling and the number of times our names were entered into the lottery, The Quarter Quell has made it so that the adults of our fair District were given the pleasure of picking their victor ahead of time. Ah, the justice of it all. I bet President Stone is LOVING this.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that no one came to see me. Who would really want to look into the eyes of the child they condemned to certain and more than likely brutal death? Hell, even if I could make it out of the Bloodbath alive, which I don't believe many of us Seam kids have done, what then? I am just supposed to slaughter other children just as innocent as I am in all of this? Not to mention the fact that I could be faced with who KNOWS what from the Gamemakers themselves? Last year I watched as a mutation in the form of a lion/bird hybrid snatched a guy from a Career District's head clear off of his shoulders. That's not exactly something we can train for. At the end of the day, did anyone really think I had a chance in this? Or did they really hate my family that much? No, that couldn't be it. Despite his thieving, drunken ways, people loved my father. He had a gift of gab and laughter that I was so very fortunate to receive from him. So, does this mean people tossed my name into the hat because they thought I actually had a chance at this?

Ha! Who am I kidding? I was probably the best of a bad situation. Someone they could get rid of without losing too much sleep at night. After all, I am nothing more than just the motherless little girl from the Seam. I don't fit in most of anywhere, I don't look like anyone else around here, and my father is the closest thing I have to a friend. I'm too wild and unruly for mothers to allow their daughters to associate with and the boys don't know what to make of me, as I act as though I am just one of them. They probably figured no one except my father would miss me when I was gone. Then, more than likely he would be gone not long afterwards because he wouldn't have anything holding him to the ground anymore. No, I can't let that happen. My father needs me now more than ever and I can't let him down. District 12 needs a victor and if it is going to be anyone, it might as well be me.

After all, I'm the Thief's daughter. What could go wrong?


	2. My Little Diamond

**Chapter Two – My Little Diamond**

Despite everything I had given up for her, despite everything I have done for her in her fifteen years of life, as a father, I had failed her. And when she needed me the most, here I was, half drunk at The Hob and watching the Reaping live in TV. HER Reaping. At the end of the day, I am nothing more than a coward taking the coward's way out. She deserves so much more than I could ever give her. After all, she is all I have left of my darling Liana. And now, I am going to have to watch as my only daughter is sent to the slaughter house that the Capitol nicely calls The Hunger Games.

No. She was coming home to us. That is why she was picked to begin with.

The Capitol had informed us ahead of time about they had planned for what they were going to deem The Quarter Quell. Meetings had to be put in place, surrounded by Capitol Peacekeepers of course; were at first we did nothing more than stare solemnly at each other and watch as a few mothers sobbed. Of course, there were more than a few angry outbursts directed towards the Capitol and President Stone himself, but we mostly kept it at a low to avoid a savage beating. At the end of the first meeting, we all knew there was nothing at all we could possibly do to stop it and we began our discussions on who was the best set of children to represent us in the games. Several different ideas were proposed, like sending in the boy and girl suffering the most, giving them at least a chance at a decent meal and we even thought about picking children we simply did not care for. And then Sae, a cook at the Hob, said something that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Why not try to win this thing?"

It was a novel idea on paper. As it stands, District 12 has yet to have a victor in the games, a thought never lost on me, as I was forced to watch my own twin brother as he was brutally killed in the first ever Hunger Games and if we could find the best of our tiny District, we might be able to hold our heads up with pride. Of course, it wasn't long before my Piper's name escaped someone's lips. My little diamond, my reason for being….all I have left in the world. While most girls here in The Seam were getting themselves ready for lives as wives and mothers, my daughter was quick and cunning, deadly with a blade in her hand. I watched her take out a boar once by simply scaring it out of its home and attacking it with every blade in her arsenal. Her bow skills weren't bad either, probably not as good as a Career, but good enough to handle herself. All in all, had she not been my daughter, she would have been my first pick. However, I could lose her in these games just as easily as I had my own brother.

In the end, it didn't matter what I said or felt. After a nearly unanimous vote, my daughter was entered into the 25th Hunger Games. As for the boy, I had no idea who they were picking. After Piper was agreed upon, I prompted walked out and drank until everything went completely black.

I sighed to myself and looked up at the screen only to see that the ceremony was getting underway. On the stage, Mayor Calabasas was giving a long-winded speech, nothing that anyone was paying attention to except, maybe, and himself. Finally, he introduced our Escort, Ambrosia Milieus, who graced the stage in what I am sure is the height of Capitol fashion, but looked like a paint factory exploded on her. Her wig, or at least I hope it was her wig, was a rainbow of colors that seemed to change as the sun bounced off of it. It also flowed all the way down the ground. The dress she wore was cut at different angles and the colors were the same as her hair. It almost seemed as if you would go blind looking at her.

"Welcome, District 12, to the Twenty-fifth annual Hunger Games! Now, I know that you are used to me picking the names of one lucky boy and girl from your…lovely…district out of a bowl filled with hundreds of different names. This year, President Stone has picked the first of what is to be known as Quarter Quells, where the rules are going to be just a bit…different. This will change every twenty-five years and two of you will be lucky enough to be in the first one! What an honor!" She clapped and did so alone. "Now, this year instead of hundreds of names to pick from, your friends and neighbors have already narrowed it down to two names that will represent your district. Now, as always, ladies first."

She walked her way over to the bowl on the left, which was empty, sans a little piece of paper at the bottom. Tears weld up in my eyes as she said her name allowed.

"MISS PIPER BLOOMSQUIST!"

Part of me expected her to tear up. Instead, she glared angrily at the adults that looked on, knowing that it was them that put her name into that bowl. Once she was part of the way up to the stage, she switched off her anger mode, opting instead to smile and wave at the crowds of people, making them feel uncomfortable. That's my girl! She shook hands with Ambrosia, who smiled for the crowd.

"And now, for the boys." Ambrosia quickly made her way over to the boys bowl and pulled out the only name inside. "MR. JACE CALABASAS!"

A hush fell over the crowd, which made it easier for us all to hear little Valentina Calabasas's blood-curdling scream. You could see Jace staring straight ahead, almost as if he was unaware that his name had even been called. He didn't move until he noticed the Peacekeepers advancing on him and causing him to finally get a move on. It wasn't until he was standing up on stage, shaking my daughter's hand, that I truly noted the size of the Mayor's only son. Piper was petite, but he stood head and shoulders above her, something he noticed right away. My heart sank.

This kid is as deranged at they come…and my daughter is going to be stuck in the arena with him.

Don't get me wrong. At the end of the day, I knew that if I wanted my daughter to come home to me, then the male tribute would also have to be dead. After all, there can only be one winner. What I hadn't taken into account was who that tribute would be. When they started tossing Piper's name around like a hanky, I had just figured all of the District's eggs would be in her basket. Now, I see that they had an ace in the hole, just in case my little girl couldn't get the job done. My Piper would never kill someone, even if it meant her own survival. We had all banked on her outsmarting everyone and coming out on top. But Jace…he was a spoiled son of the most important person in the District and all of that power had gone to his head. On quite a few occasions, I had seen him in the square, bullying children half his size and the Peacekeepers looked the complete other way because of who his father is. He was used to having the world handed to him and when he is faced with having that taken away, as well as given a weapon and taught to kill; I saw that as being more than a threat against my daughter than any Career kid or mutt.

And then I remembered their history.

What have I done? How could I have left her to face something like this on her own? I couldn't leave it like this. She had to know why she was picked, she needed advice. On top of that, she needed a token; something to keep close to her during these games and remind her of what she had waiting for her back at home.

I took the last sip of beer that would ever touch my lips, tipped my hat to Sal, the bartender, and took off running towards my house. If I was lucky, I could get there and to the Justice Building in fifteen minutes. Then…I could send my little girl off to kill or be killed.

Here's hoping I've prepared her enough for this.


	3. One More Time

**Chapter Three – One More Time**

My last year. One more time and I am free of this retched tool of the Capitol. Then, all I need to do is finish my last year of school before trying my hand in politics like my old man. With all of the rail-thin Seam kids having their names in the pot a dozen or more times, it wasn't as if I had a snowballs chance in hell at being picked. After all, in the past twenty-four games, I could count the amount of merchant and up-class kids that have been Reaped on one hand with a few digits left over. Kids like my best friend Blaze Rorer and his band of brothers, who will most likely end up Bloodbath victims before I ever get called. Being the Mayor's son DOES have a few perks. This is why I am not even bothering myself by listening to whatever Ambrosia was babbling on about; it was probably more crap about what an honor it was for us to be picked for the Games.

I let my mind and eyes wander to those around me as I stood head and shoulders above the rest of the eighteen year old pack, as well as the rest of the kids in The Seam. Unlike the rest of the underfed underlings of this District, I knew what it was like to bath and look nice on days other than Reaping Day. Standing up on the stage near my father was my mother, who looked so ashen and small, and my little sister Valentine, who was not yet old enough to know how boring it was to stand out here and wait for someone else's name to be called. I smiled at my mother, but she couldn't bear to look at me. So dramatic, I swear. Even if I was called, more than likely someone would jump in my place, someone whose parent owes my father, and that would settle that. After all, who wouldn't do it for me? Please here LOVE me.

Ever…except for her. The daughter of the town thief, who was glaring at the stage from her spot with the other fifteen year old girls…what a hot mess she was. She was not unlike a wild animal you would find in the forbidden zone, always running around with a crazed look in her eyes, always without shoes unless she was in school. She was all-around pathetic, really. There were such amazingly good looking girls from her class that she could just bite off of to get ahead around here. The only thing she had going for her are her violet eyes and darker than your average Seam kid hair. My mother had taken a shining to her, as she herself had grown up motherless in the Seam, but personally; I hadn't like her at all for a good while now.

Without thinking, I ran my fingers across the scar that mangled my once gorgeous face.

"MISS PIPER BLOOMSQUIST!"

Yes. That was the little whore that did this to me.

Then, it hit me. Ambrosia just read her name and Reaped in the wild girl from The Seam. I couldn't believe it. For once, the Capitol did something right and got rid of the little tease. Well, I guess that just left some helpless boy and I can get back to living life. In just two weeks' time I'll be nineteen and never have to go through this again. By the time my own children are born and old enough for this, I bet the Capitol will be done with putting us through this.

Next to me, Blaze Rorer nudged me back into reality. "Man…I didn't think the town hated that little bitch that much! I mean, at least she was hot!"

What in the hell was he talking about? Blaze wasn't the brightest guy around, but he at least knew the ins and outs of the Games…EVERYONE does. Then…I saw it. The bowls on the stage…they only had one piece of paper in them, instead of the hundreds upon hundreds of names. Piper's name was the only one in there. And that means…what?

"Why is there only one name in there?"

He chuckled. "You really weren't paying attention, Rich Boy, were you? The town picked their tributes this year. New Capitol rule just for this year, it's some quarter dealie. Don't worry, if they picked someone like Piper for this thing, I bet it'll be one of my younger brothers going in."

"And now, for the boys." My eyes darted from my mother, who had tears rolling down her cheeks, to a few of the other adults who were refusing to meet my gaze. Oh no.

"MR. JACE CALABASAS!

The hush that fell over the crowd was broken my Valentine's screams of horror and my mother's cries, but still, I stood there like a deer in a hovercraft's light. My body and mind disconnected from each other, refusing to let the other one in on what I should be doing. There was no way I was going in, only Seam kids go to the Games. People couldn't possibly hate me enough to choose this fate. No. It was a mistake. Somebody, anybody, volunteer. For the love of all things great, VOLUNTEER AND SAVE MY LIFE! The peacekeepers made their way towards me, their sticks in hand, ready to bash in my head and drag me to the stage, and I was just standing there like a lumbering idiot. MOVE, JACE, MOVE! Finally, I came to my senses and my legs wobbled their way towards the stage. Once up there, I stood to the left of Piper, who just glared at me and I turned my gaze to the crowd, secretly wishing the Capitol would burn them all where they stood. Damn, ungrateful bastards, the whole lot of them.

Ambrosia made us shake hands and it was then that I realized who my real competition for these games is. The Career kids might be trained all their lives for this moment and they might be able to slaughter like there is no tomorrow. But Seam kids…they have a built in need for survival like no other. Our problem has been they Reap the bare-belly twelve year olds that are ripe for the Bloodbath. Piper might be a tiny little thing, but behind those crazed eyes sat a girl that knew how to survive anything the world tossed her way. I had to hand the little whore that much. If I stuck with her, I'd at least make it to the feast. All I had to do was play to her sympathies. That is, if she had any.

"Happy hunger games and may the ODDS be EVER in your FAVOR!"

Oh, Ambrosia dear, you have no idea just how good the odds were for me now.


	4. Tokens and Babies and Tears, Oh My!

A/N: I am writing these back to back, as I lack proper internet connection to actually 'publish' them to the site. Just figured I'd let that be known. I am going to write as much as I can until I get my laptop some place that has Wi-Fi and I can upload them. And I apologize for the first three chapters being very short; I was just trying to give a little insight into who my characters are. Anyways, please read and review.

Also, I'd love to give a big shout-out to my very first review, **Nicholas Gardener**. Thanks a heaping for the amazing review. Also, a shout out to **Tigerlils**. No, I am not dead. The lack of internet is what is keeping me from updating and I apologize.

**Chapter Four – Tokens and Babies and Tears, Oh My! **

I had started to lose all hope. Three minutes passed and still, not one single person came to see me. Not my father, not the Peacekeepers, no one. I figured that by now, someone would have come by to whisk me away to the train, which would lumber along and drag me to my inevitable death. My mind started to come unraveled and all I could think of to do is destroy this velvet nightmare of a room. As I picked up an end table to launch through the window, I heard a slight cough from behind me. I turned to find Sunny Quartermain, one of the girls from my class. She was a merchant kid; her father was the local apothecary, but she wasn't the stuck-up type. In fact, she was one of the few girls that actually smiled in my direction and would attempt to make small talk. I guess I never gave it much through that she might actually miss me when I am gone from here. After all…without me, who else would the others look down on?

"I…I don't think they'd appreciate the broken glass."

"Well, I don't appreciate the adults in this district picking me as their tribute."

"Touché." We both laughed. "Do you think the adults picked you because you can win this thing?"

All I could do was shrug my shoulders in response. "Who knows what they were thinking…it's not like any of the adults in this town have come to see me and offer words of advice."

Her eyes widened. "Where is your father?"

Once again, I shrugged. "You tell me. That bastard didn't even show up for the Reaping, so my best guess is that he knew I was being picked and he is drinking his sorrows away at the Hob. He always gets testy around this time of year."

"Yeah, your Uncle Colin was in the first games, wasn't he?"

I nodded slightly, thinking back to the kid whose picture sits next to my bed and watches over me at night. "He was my father's twin brother and he made it all the way to the final three. The Tributes from One and Four bludgeoned him to death with clubs before turning on each other. My father…hasn't been the same since." Not that I'd know he was normal before his twin was just another victim in the games, but I figured that was the beginning of the end for him. "Thanks for being the one decent person in town and seeing me off."

She gave me a meaningful hug. "What are friends for? Just promise…promise you'll come back, ok?"

Before I had a chance to give her an answer, the Peacekeepers were in the room, escorting her back into reality. After a few weeks, she'll forget me. In time, everyone will. Everyone but my father, but now I no longer care. If he can't be bothered to see me off, then why should I bother coming back for him? The one time I needed him, he let me down.

Finally, I gave into my anger. Anger at my father, at the Capitol, at the cowards in my town that picked me to die and didn't have the balls to see me off…it all came rushing out of me like a typhoon and the furniture took brunt of it. A swift kick to the velvet couch sent it flying into the wall behind it and soon the end table I had threatened to send through the window met the wall above it. My fists began to fly at the wall until they were bloody and bruised. Running out on pure adrenaline and wild gooseling eggs (my Reaping breakfast), I completely blocked out everything that didn't involve destruction, until I felt familiar arms grab me from behind. My scream became almost primal as I turned and laid a few punches into the broad chest of my father.

"You promised…you promised that you'd always be there for me. YOU. ARE. A. LIAR!" Tears streamed down my face as I buried it into the spots I was just hitting. He stroked my hair and hushed me, as if I was five years old again. "Why, Daddy? Why would you guys pick me for this?"

He pushed me away slightly and looked into my eyes. I could see the cracks of worry spread next to them. "Because you can do this, Piper! If you can win this, you will prove that District 12 is actually worth something, not to mention the fact that you will be giving our District just enough food to get by this year. There will be less hungry bellies, all thanks to you. This is what you've been training for your whole life. You are a survivor."

"Bullshit, dad! I learned how to get by, not how to kill twenty-three other kids to get a free pass in life. You guys picked me because I was the best of a bad situation, not because I was bringing home the win." I turned my back on him. "I scanned the crowd after my name was called…you were too busy drowning your own sorrows because of something that happened twenty-five years ago. You knew my name was being called and you couldn't be bothered to show up."

He pulled me in for a hug and kissed the top of my head. "I'm so sorry, kiddo. I just…couldn't sit there and watch as they marched you up onto that stage. I'm a failure, I know I am. But I am going to find a way to make it up to you."

She pulled away from him. "I'll be dead in one week's time!"

"YOU ARE A WINNER, PIPER BLOOMSQUIST! You are better than these people, don't you see it?" She turned to face him. "You don't belong in a place like The Seam, you were meant for bigger things. God, you are so much like your mother that it hurts me to be near you. She didn't see her own potential as well and that's why she threw away everything to live in this dump of a place."

He collapsed on the couch, his face sopping wet. "Before I go, I want to hear you say you are something special. That you can win this thing."

"Dad-"

"No, I want to hear you say it!"

"I…I can win this."

"Like you mean it."

"Fine!" I took a deep breath. "I WILL WIN THE HUNGER GAMES!"

He kissed my forehead and placed something in my hand. "Your District token. It didn't exactly come from District 12, but it's still a reminder of home."

"Daddy…" Inside my hand was a silver locket, one obviously too good for a place like The Seam. At first glance, I had figured he had swiped it, along with the hundreds of other items from Victor's Village, but I knew that couldn't be the case. The size of the locket alone screamed Capitol decadence, as well as the leering seal of Panem etched into the faceplate. Gulping back tears, I opened up my reminder of home, only to find two pictures. The first, a smiling photo of my mother and father, taken on their wedding day outside of our small house in The Seam…the second, well, it was of a brooding young man in his early twenties; he snarl was something very familiar to me.

"When times are at their worst, remember to look for your family and you will have all the answers."

At that point, I lost it. I leapt into his arms, letting him hold onto me like I was a child all over again. "Daddy…daddy….daddy…don't let them take me!"

"You can do this, Piper darling. Don't let any of those Careers push you around. Use whatever is around you as a weapon and don't be afraid to be the first to strike. These aren't just animals in the forbidden area, these animals think and feel and will come at you with everything they have. Come home to me, my little diamond. Don't leave me like your mother did."

I dried my eyes and hugged my father one last time.

#

Crowds of people didn't come to see me off. There was no parade in my honor. Hell, if it wasn't for the sound of furniture being tossed around in the room next to me, I would've thought that I had been abandoned. Then, my door opened.

"Jacey, my sweetheart." Good ol' mom. I can always count on her to make me feel like more of a child. "When your father told me before The Reaping that they had chosen you, well, it was too much for me to bear."

"Is father coming in to see me off to victory?"

She refused to meet my gaze. "Your father is a very important man, Jacey."

Of course he is. According to him, his job is never done. Also according to him, he has to meet with a few of the town ladies late at night to discuss how he can better the District. My ignoramus of a mother still hasn't seen the telltale signs of my father's affairs that I have been noticing since I was twelve. Really, could get you get anymore pathetic? And now, here she was, boo-hooing at me like I wasn't coming back. Seriously, if I hadn't inherited my dark features from her, I would swear that I hadn't come from her womb.

"And Valentine?"

"She is far too distraught for something like this. I almost didn't come myself." Miss Passive-Aggressive strikes yet again, micromanaging the situation and making it all about everyone else but me. "You…you take care of yourself in that arena, ok? And take care of the girl."

"Take care of her?" Finally, I snapped. "You do realize only one of us can come home, mother. I am your son, dammit! Your first born! Just…just go. I can't even look at you right now."

"Jacey…"The tears began to flow.

"GO! And don't expect to see me at all once I move into the Victor's Village."

Now she was hiccupping. Great. This is what I have to deal with when I am in the arena, thanks mother. It takes everything in me not to kick her as she makes her way out of the room, leaving only her echoing hiccups behind as she heads back to the reality that is District 12. For a brief moment, I regret talking to my mother that way, but then I remembered that I can make it up to her once I win this thing. Just need to stick with the plan of making crazy girl my partner and everything else should fall into place. With all that money I can make everything right between all of us and give Valentine the life she deserves. The last thing I want is to have her grow up like me.

A soft knock on the door startles me. "You might as well come in, you know, while I am still IN this District."

"Hello, Jace." And just like that, I am joined by the last person (besides my own father), my now ex-girlfriend, Sadie Undersee. The way she rubbed her tummy snapped me back into reality. "I think we need to talk."

"If you are about to imply that the little bastard growing inside you is mine, think again. I saw the way you were paling around with Blaze Rorer and it could easily be his."

"Are you insane? I wasn't paling around with him; I was trying to get him to talk some sense into you." And now the waterworks were starting. Great. "This is your baby and you know it."

Her blonde hair shook as she sobbed, her arms refused to let go of the growing disappointment in her stomach. God, what did I ever see in this girl? She was so weak and beneath me. I only scored with her because her father was a member of my father's political party and I figured nailing her would get him into some sort of trouble. Instead, here I was deep in the shit. Good lord, please let her give birth to a Mutation, or worse, another Rorer boy.

"And you decided that the perfect time to tell me is AFTER I am Reaped by my own people? Are you nuts?" She sobs harder. "For all I know, I can be dead in a week. Go…take your little bastard somewhere else, I am done with you."

"What am I going to tell my parents?"

"You should've thought of that before you slept with me."

With that, she took off out of my room in full-on tears. The Peacekeeper guarding the door, Cassius I believe his name is, glared at me, to which I shrugged a response. On the floor, I notice that Sadie had left behind the purple ribbon that had been holding her hair back just moments before. Cassius noticed it as well and handed it to me.

"Might as well take that as my District token, right?"

He stared blankly back at me, as if he misunderstood what I was saying to him. What was the world coming to when Peacekeepers become blank little robots?

#

The ride to the train station was awkward to say the least.

First off, I was forced to wear shoes, as Ambrosia thought it was unmannerly to go into a fresh, Capitol automobile without proper footwear. And here I thought the Capitol was all about comfort! Then, she wedged herself between Jace and myself, as if she could feel the tension between us already. And why wouldn't she? Jace and I hate each other.

"If there is anything to take out of this situation…at least you will see luxury for the first and, possibly last time in your young life."

Part of me wanted to slap her, to just beat her senseless. But then, I thought to myself, she really doesn't know any better. She is like a newborn child or mentally challenged animal…but that might insult babies and challenged animals. She has changed clothes since the Reaping, opting instead for a shorter version of the hairstyle she had on stage and a simple plaid suit. Oh, to be young and fashionable again!

"Ambrosia…since we've never had a victor in this district, who is going to mentor us and get our sponsors?"

She smiled, showing off her platinum, fake smile. "Why, I shall, of course. And if one of you makes it back from this, you shall join me in doing this every year."

Here's hoping I die in the bloodbath.

"The Capitol trusts YOU with our lives?" Jace scoffed, his face never turning away from his window, which is stared out of with a blank expression on his face. "Goes to show they have a ton of faith in the little district that could!"

I couldn't help but snort as she replied with a very upbeat, "Thanks you, Mr. Calabasas."

"How long will it take us to get to the Capitol from here?"

"We shall be there in two days' time, my darling." She giggled at the thought of being closer to home and out of a place such as this. "These trains are a lot faster than they look, but the ride is as smooth as a baby's bottom."

It wasn't a very long ride from the Justice building to the Train station, especially since we were in Ambrosia's fancy automobile. I do believe when I win, I am going to have get my hands on one of these…even though I'd be the only one in the district with one.

"This is it!"

Unlike the fake sense of stability we felt on the way over to the station, the station itself reminded us that there was a game being played. Flashbulbs blinded me from every angle, keeping me off balance as I exited the car. While I could see Jace grimacing at the cameras, I took it as my first chance to connect with the Capitol audience, smiling and waving like a lunatic. Might as well get myself some sponsors as early as possible…I may not get the chance later on.

The cameras seemed to eat me up, turning the focus from the uninteresting Jace to me and I gave them what they wanted. "Hi Panem, I'm Piper Bloomquist of District 12…how are you at home?" I smiled where it was appropriate and tried to answer some of the questions that were coming my way, but the light from the bulbs and the blending of the voices made it difficult to much else. Still, I did what I could to keep the spotlight on myself and, it seemed, I was doing a good job of it…at least, according to Miss Ambrosia Milieus I was.

"You know, Mr. Calabasas, you could learn a lot from that girl."


End file.
